An inkjet printing system, as one example of a fluid ejection system, may include a printhead, an ink supply which supplies liquid ink to the printhead, and an electronic controller which controls the printhead. The printhead, as one example of a fluid ejection device, ejects drops of ink through a plurality of nozzles or orifices and toward a print medium, such as a sheet of paper, so as to print onto the print medium. Typically, the orifices are arranged in one or more columns or arrays such that properly sequenced ejection of ink from the orifices causes characters or other images to be printed upon the print medium as the printhead and the print medium are moved relative to each other.
One type of printhead includes a piezoelectric printhead. The piezoelectric printhead includes a substrate defining a fluid chamber, a flexible membrane supported by the substrate over the fluid chamber, and an actuator provided on the flexible membrane. In one arrangement, the actuator includes a piezoelectric material which deforms when an electrical voltage supplied by a drive circuit is applied to the actuator. As such, when the piezoelectric material deforms, the flexible membrane deflects thereby causing ejection of fluid from the fluid chamber and through an orifice in fluid communication with the fluid chamber. Both the actuator and the drive circuit generate excess heat during operation. The excess heat should be removed from the system to maintain consistent operation of the actuator and the drive circuit.